The challenges of working from home at university

With all learning online for the foreseeable, like most students, I will be working from home until the restrictions ease. A lack of routine, living with our families, and doing university work from home is something we all have to get used to again.

The announcement of a third national lockdown on 4 January 2021 inevitably meant student learning would dramatically alter. Despite not being mentioned by Boris Johnson in his Downing Street statement, universities had to adapt to a scenario built around remote learning and social distancing.

Initially, I was planning to return to university. However, when I heard that I would not be able to go onto campus like usual, it completely discouraged me.

Managing this dynamic will be tricky

This sudden disappointment is something we all have experienced before. In March, the first lockdown was announced a week after returning home for the Easter holidays. I intended on returning to university for the third term of my first year, but that was quickly cancelled.

The work I had to do was reasonably minimal: four essays that would have been submitted online regardless of the pandemic. Despite the circumstances, it was relatively manageable at home.

This term will be different. With online lectures to watch and online seminars to take part in, academic study will be more severe and intense. Managing this dynamic will be tricky. Although I have always done academic work at home, it is a place of rest and leisure. This lockdown means we lack total separation between relaxation and study.

The greatest difficulty is finding an exact routine

Strangely, that was one of the many benefits provided by the U1 bus. This journey allowed us to adjust and prepare for the day ahead mentally by enabling a distinction between home and work. The reward of relaxation at the end of a long day motivated working hard during the day.

That isn’t so easy at home. I’ve realised the greatest difficulty is finding an exact routine. At university, that is decided. A day is broken up into different chunks with space for meeting people, engaging in seminars and completing library work. When the entire day is spent in the same place, finding those gaps is far more challenging. The one period of daily exercise and shopping, while allowing individuals to go outside, simply isn’t the same.

I am fortunate as I have my home to myself during the day, allowing me the flexibility of working in different spaces without interruption. Though sometimes intermittent, our broadband is usually strong enough for any academic work I’m completing.

We must remember that we have each other for support

This is not the case for everyone. Many have other family members also working from home, making it difficult to find a quiet place to work. In some households, devices and internet access are limited, and many do not have a desk. As students, we have all of this inconvenience on top of missing a daily routine and the pandemic’s general worries. This time is testing us by all means.

This is universally felt by students regardless of where they are locked down. What nothing – not even a pandemic – can stop, however, are social connections. Engaging with others online to share advice, provide moral support or just for a general catch up, will be needed this term more than ever.

So, despite these challenging times, we must remember that we have each other for support. Even though the ‘we’re all in the same boat’ premise is not the most helpful, we can understand each other’s struggles. This lockdown is more demanding than the last, but at least there is an end in sight. We now have the vaccine, and it cannot be forgotten that it is the beginning of the end.